New York Mets center fielder Yoenis Cespedes hits his third home run of the game during the sixth inning against the Colorado Rockies at Coors Field in Denver. PICTURE: USA TODAY Sports

The Sports Xchange/New York


Yoenis Cespedes tied a franchise record with three home runs and the New York Mets blew an early six-run lead before rebounding to beat the Colorado Rockies 14-9 on Friday.
Cespedes went 5-for-6, adding a double, seven RBIs and five runs as the Mets defeated the Rockies for the ninth consecutive time. Catcher Travis d’Arnaud and left fielder Michael Conforto hit back-to-back homers in the seventh inning to boost the Mets’ lead to 12-8.
Cespedes set career highs in homers, hits, RBIs and runs.
“He’s a special talent,” Mets manager Terry Collins said.
The centre fielder hit a grand slam in the second inning and a solo shot in the fourth. He belted a two-run homer in the sixth to give the Mets a 10-8 lead after the Rockies fought back from a 7-1 deficit in the second to tie the score st 8-8 in the fifth.
With a chance for a fourth homer, Cespedes singled in the eighth inning. In the ninth, Cespedes lined a ball to right-centre that seemed headed for the gap, but right fielder Carlos Gonzalez made a nice running catch.
“I thought the last ball had a shot, and now you just can’t wait to see what he’s going to do tomorrow,” Collins said.
Cespedes wasn’t thinking of a fourth homer, his sights set instead on hitting for the cycle.
“All I had in my mind is go to third,” Cespedes said. “I was trying to hit a triple.”
Cespedes has five homers with the Mets and 21 overall this season, counting his time with the Detroit Tigers before he was traded to New York for two minor league pitchers on July 31.
The grand slam was part of a six-run second inning in which the Mets took a 7-1 lead and chased Colorado rookie Jon Gray.
The right-hander gave up seven runs on eight hits in one and 2/3 innings in his fourth career start. Gray allowed one hit and one run in six innings when he faced the Mets in New York two starts ago.
“There was no command of the fastball at all today,” Gray said. “And it’s a little tough to get outs when that’s what you pitch off of. It was just bad. I don’t think I got ahead of any guys tonight. I had plenty of chances to get myself out of situations, and I just didn’t make the pitches.”

Astros’ Fiers tosses fifth no-hitter of 2015
Mike Fiers tossed the fifth no-hitter in the majors this season in just his third start for Houston, leading the Astros to a 3-0 win over the Los Angeles Dodgers on Friday.
Fiers, who was acquired from the Milwaukee Brewers at the July 30 trade deadline, struck out 10, walked three and retired the final 21 Dodger batters.
“Everything was working tonight,” said Fiers after his first career complete game. “I was just trying to go as long as possible and not give up as many runs.”
It was the second Major League Baseball no-hitter in the past nine days, after Seattle’s Hisashi Iwakuma on August 12.  
Fiers joins Iwakuma, San Francisco’s Chris Heston, Washington’s Max Scherzer and Philadelphia’s Cole Hamels as pitchers who have no-hitters this season. The 30-year-old Fiers struck out batter Justin Turner on his 134th pitch to finish off the no-hitter in front of a crowd of 33,800 at Minute Maid Park.  
He celebrated by tossing his glove into the air before being mobbed by his teammates at the side of the mound.  
“After I got that last out everything kind of hit me,” he said. “Once you’re in that moment you don’t feel anything really. You’re going off adrenaline at that point.”
Houston executive Nolan Ryan, who threw a record seven no-hitters, cheered the no-hitter from his team suite. After the game, Ryan went down to the clubhouse to meet Fiers for the first time and congratulate him on the ultimate achievement for a pitcher.
Fiers got a pair of deep fly outs from Dodger shortstop Jimmy Rollins and designated hitter Chase Utley to open the ninth before striking out third baseman Turner.  
As a franchise, the Astros have thrown 11 no-hitters, with right-hander Darryl Kile recording the last individual no-hitter for Houston on September 1993, against the New York Mets at the Astrodome.  
Fiers’s no-hitter is the first for the Astros since 2003, when pitchers combined to achieve the feat.
He issued the first of his three walks with two outs in the first inning when Turner worked him for a base on balls.
Right fielder Andre Ethier walked to start the second inning and centre fielder Joc Pederson reached on a leadoff walk to begin the third, but from that point on Fiers was firing on all cylinders. Fiers entered the eighth inning having put down 15 straight batters. He had struck out Ethier and Dodgers catcher Yasmani Grandal to finish the seventh
inning.